Chapter 40 I! Caught! You!

As Naruto returned home, the rain gradually subsided.

Humming a strange yet simple tune, he ascended the stairs with brisk steps.

The old-style apartment where he lived had few residents, comprising a complex and peculiar mix of people. Sometimes he saw young girls, other times only old folks.

But on rainy days, people were rarely seen. While shaking the rain off his big black umbrella and forcefully stomping his feet to shake off the rain-soaked pants,

When Naruto was reaching for the key to open the door, he looked up and suddenly found a person squatting not far from the door.

It was a young girl with cherry blossom pink hair and a broad forehead. She leaned against the wall, seemingly asleep, with her wet hair hanging down.

'Hmm? Sakura?'

'Sakura!!!'

'Why is she here? Wasn't she supposed to be with Sasuke registering for the Chūnin Exams?'

Naruto crouched down and leaned over to take a look.

"Is she really asleep?"

'Isn't this a plot straight out of he... cough... light novels?'

'Damn it, degrading.'

He had never read those indecent light novels, only the proper romance ones on that particular site.

Confirming that Sakura was indeed asleep, Naruto marveled at the peculiarity.

Sakura was crouched against the wall, sitting in a position with her legs curled up and her butt touching the ground, her wet pink hair hanging down.

The girl was breathing rhythmically with her eyes closed.

People typically fall asleep easily in two scenarios, either in a warm air-conditioned room or when it's cold.

The summer temperature was not low enough to freeze anyone to death. In fact, the heavy rain has washed away the heat of the past few days, making it quite cool.

'Something is fishy.'

​​Naruto scratched his head and tentatively nudged Sakura's shoe with his foot.

'No response.'

Scratching his head again, Naruto finally sensed a trace of Chakra. Clumsily recalling the knowledge taught in the Academy, he formed a dispelling hand seal.

"Wake up!"

Naruto called out, forming a hand seal with his hands, and fiery red Chakra surged into Sakura's body.

Instantly, Sakura's head snapped up, gasping for breath as if she hadn't breathed in ages.

"I'm saved." Sakura said tremblingly.

"What happened?"

"Sasuke was taken away by a strange man, and I was caught in that man's Genjutsu. Kakashi-sensei should be chasing after him."

"Naruto! You need to come with me! Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke are in danger!" Sakura reached out to grab Naruto's hand.

But in the next second, Naruto turned around and kicked Sakura right in the cheek.

Oddly enough, Sakura let out a scream of pain and jumped back skillfully to create some distance. Though she still looked like Sakura, her eyes were particularly fierce at this time.

"How did you see through me?"

"You seem to like digging into people's minds?" Naruto retorted.

"Hehe." The fake Sakura laughed, reaching behind her waist and quickly pulling out two sharp kunai.

"It doesn't matter if you don't tell me anything. After all, you're just a corpse."

The fake Sakura still hadn't removed her disguise, and charged towards Naruto with two kunai in hand. Meanwhile, the surroundings began to change.

A static noise buzzed in Naruto's ears, like the sound of an old projector getting stuck, and the light around him suddenly dimmed.

To be more precise, the light around Naruto was swallowed by darkness. It didn't dim uniformly but was torn apart by the darkness as if it were consuming flesh and blood.

Everything went pitch black, and Naruto felt the ground shaking beneath him, as if it might collapse at any moment. After calming himself down, Naruto instinctively stepped back and jumped away.

This is a Genjutsu World, while the real enemy was attacking him outside.

Naruto didn't pay much attention to what he saw in the Genjutsu world, instead focusing on instinctively controlling his body to avoid attacks.

Until the enemy entered the Genjutsu world as well.

Boom!

The darkness suddenly retreated, and Naruto looked up to find himself tied to a stone pillar.

In the night sky, a blood-red moon hung, casting its crimson light equally on Naruto and the smirking face of the fake Sakura holding the kunai.

"Why do you always like to smile like that?"

Naruto constantly provoked the assassin, teasing their fragile nerves, knowing that calmness was the greatest mockery of death.

"Haha, wait until your stomach is slit open, I will tell you the answer!" The fake Sakura's eyes shone with a nearly pathological glint, and she kept sucking on her fingers in her mouth.

It was both a little seductive and a little terrifying.

Her deranged state made her look like a mentally deranged lunatic.

Whether she was speaking or licking her fingers, the fake Sakura's eyes never left Naruto, holding her face in a classic yandere pose.

'Indeed, having pink hair while acting like a yandere didn't feel out of place at all!'

'Damn it! Why am I thinking of Yuno Gasai at a time like this?'

"What did you say you were going to do to me?" Naruto smiled, looking completely unfazed, "I didn't hear you clearly just now, can you say it again?"

"Are you scared?"

"Yes, I almost peed myself." Naruto said lightly, "I plan to redeem you and guide you onto the right path."

"Redeem me? Hahahaha!!" The fake Sakura laughed like she had heard the biggest joke of the century, bending over in laughter.

"How are you going to redeem me? By begging for mercy?"

"Maybe if you kneel and beg now, I might be in a good mood and let you go."

"Not a chance, you're dead! An hour here is only a minute outside."

The fake Sakura slowly walked to the immobilized Naruto, raised the kunai in her hand high, and stared at Naruto expressionlessly.

"Die!"

"Wait!"

"Do you have any last words?" The fake Sakura still maintained the posture of holding the kunai high.

"I do have something," Naruto coughed, staring intently at the fake Sakura, and asked.

"Have you ever seen a mouth seal?"

"What?" The question confused the fake Sakura.

[Four Symbols Seal activated, devour.]

Boom!!

The Genjutsu was instantly shattered by a devastating force, and that extremely terrifying force came with an ancient and dusty feeling.

Suddenly, the fake Sakura vanished and was pulled into the seal while spinning.

At the same time, in the dark and humid Four Symbols Seal space, the fake Sakura landed in a puddle, and Naruto stood on the puddle in front of her.

Behind Naruto, a huge fence-like mahogany cage stood tall. From the darkness, a giant fiery red fox head slowly emerged.

The massive fox, like a mountain, had a mouth full of sharp teeth and blood-red eyes filled with terrifying malice.

The fake Sakura was stunned, her body collapsing in the puddle as tears streamed uncontrollably.

Naruto smiled and stared at the fake Sakura as he spoke word by word.

"I! Caught! You!"